When he spoke again, he addressed the twelve before him: "Gentlemen of the jury, I have reasons for feeling convinced that this young man is in part telling the truth.

I am acquainted with his father, unless he has given a name he does not own--and his face is a pretty good witness for him; he looks like his dad.

While he has undoubtedly glossed and warped the story of the shooting in a mistaken effort to make things look better for the man who did the killing, I can see no sufficient reason for holding him.

This Committee stands for justice and is not backward about tempering it with mercy.
Gentlemen of the jury, I recommend that John Belden be released from custody and permitted to go home.

He was unarmed when I took him, and there is no evidence of his having dealt anything but hard words to the victims of the shooting.